


Tumnus and Voluns:  at the end of Jadis' Winter.

by Heliopause



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types, Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: Gen, Horace - Freeform, Horatian Ode, Latin, Poetry, Remix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-04
Updated: 2014-01-04
Packaged: 2018-01-07 09:00:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1118012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heliopause/pseuds/Heliopause
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A re-imagining of Horace's Ode 4.7, as spoken by two philosophical but war-saddened Fauns; spring is a sign of life, but life necessarily implies death, and death is the irreversible end of life as we know it.<br/>(Ahem!  Rewritten a bit.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tumnus and Voluns:  at the end of Jadis' Winter.

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Ode 4-7](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/33625) by Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) via various translators. 



> _The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe_ tells the tale as seen by the four Pevensie children, but the adult Narnians who lived through the Winter certainly would have been grappling with complex feelings of grief for losses, and perhaps also guilt for survival, despite the general relief and joy of Spring.  
>  Voluns is an OC, but as I've imagined it, an old friend of Tumnus, who like him had experienced the bitterness of loss and the inability to stand between other friends and death.
> 
> And a later note: a friend pointed out that I had misinterpreted Horace at one point, so... this is the new, updated version.
> 
> (I'm not sure why the tag says 'freeform'; I just put 'Horace'.)

Tumnus and Voluns:  at the end of Jadis' Winter.

_Voluns:_

The snow retreats into the ground,

and meadows and sweet grass appear

The flooding waters drop away

and all the world is changèd here

Now bare and fearless lightly tread

the Dryads of the wood and field,

so swift they pass, and passing tell

that to time's passing we shall yield

This winter giving way to spring,

foretells that spring in turn shall fall,

and summer's round shall be played out

and winter once more cover all.

 

_Tumnus:_

They cover their _own_ losses swift enough

the heavenly dealers, as the game is played

but when we fall where mighty Frank has gone

we are, as he, erased to dust and shade.

Who knows if they will deal us one more day?

Not me; but this much certainty I'll share

the present joys you take and most hold dear

will not be graspable by any heir.

When you, good Voluns, breathe your last again

And judgement is pronounced, for good or ill,

Not love of Aslan nor words will avail

to pluck you forth again; dead is dead still.

Nor even, friend, could heart-strong friendship save

a much-loved brother from the unyielding grave.

 


End file.
